Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

Tour operator Thomas Cook is taking British tourists back to Tunisia this week for the first time since an ISIS gunman massacred 38 people – 30 of them British – on a beach in Sousse in 2015.

Until last summer, the Foreign Office advised against travel there due to the high risk of terrorism. So what has changed and is it safe for western tourists to go back?

On a beach of pristine sand, the sun beats down from a cloudless sky and the turquoise blue of the Mediterranean glitters on the horizon. But something is missing: tourists.

Admittedly, it’s February and therefore low season, but the place is almost completely deserted. Lines of lonely parasols stretch away into the distance and the hotel lobby is empty.

Read More

The FBI was warned about the teenager who allegedly carried out a mass shooting at his former school in Florida.

Nikolas Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, reportedly left a comment on a YouTube video last year stating: “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” A user alerted authorities to the post.

Teachers were also warned about Mr Cruz, who was not allowed on campus with a backpack, US media report.

Seventeen people were killed and many more were injured in the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Several people are in a critical condition. It is the deadliest shooting at a US school since 2012.

After seeing a comment on a YouTube post last year by Mr Cruz, 19, user Ben Bennight contacted the FBI with his concerns. He said he spoke to representatives there for about 20 minutes. Mr Bennight said that the FBI had contacted him again following the school shooting in Parkland.

Read More

French President Emmanuel Macron has threatened to “strike” Syria if proof emerges that its government is using chemical weapons against civilians.

“We will strike the place where these launches are made or where they are organised,” he told reporters. But Mr Macron said French intelligence had so far found no evidence that banned chemical weapons had been used.

His comments follow numerous reports of suspected chlorine attacks in Syria since early January. Nine people were treated for breathing difficulties after a bomb believed to be filled with the chemical was dropped on a rebel-held town earlier this month.

The Syrian opposition said a government helicopter dropped the bomb on Saraqeb, in the north-western province of Idlib.

The Syrian government strongly denies using chemical weapons and says it does not target civilians.

Speaking in Paris on Tuesday, Mr Macron reaffirmed his stance that the use of chemical weapons represented a “red line” for his government. “Today, our agencies, our armed forces, have not established that chemical weapons, as set out in treaties, have been used against the civilian population,” he said. “As soon as such proof is established, I will do what I said. The priority is the fight against the terrorists.”

Read More

At least one person has reportedly been shot and wounded and one suspect taken into custody at the US National Security Agency’s headquarters.

Gunfire rang out after a black SUV pulled up at the entrance to the facility in Fort Meade, Maryland.

An NSA spokesman told local media the area outside America’s electronic espionage agency was now secure after a “security incident”.

Earlier reports said that as many as three people had been wounded. But Fort Meade police spokesman Larry Whitley said one person had been injured and transported to hospital. It is unclear whether shots were fired by a suspect or by law enforcement.

But CBS News images showed the black sports utility vehicle with what looked like bullet holes in the front windscreen. It appeared to have crashed into some NSA-stamped concrete barricade blocks outside the US Army installation.

NBC News said its helicopter could see police surrounding a handcuffed man sitting on the ground.

Read More

A federal jury has found two Baltimore police officers guilty for their role in a sprawling police corruption case that involved robbing city residents.

Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor were convicted of racketeering and robbery charges and cleared of others. They were part of an elite unit tasked with seizing illegal firearms. But instead the squad went rogue, stealing cash and guns and reselling drugs.

Thousands of cases could have been affected by the unit’s corruption.

Baltimore Police Commissioner-Designate Darryl De Sousa issued a statement after the verdict, noting the trial uncovered “some of the most egregious and despicable acts ever perpetrated in law enforcement”. “Our job moving forward is to earn back the trust and respect of the community,” he said, adding that it would “be a process”.

Baltimore police have struggled to regain public trust after Freddie Gray, a young black man, died in police custody in 2015.

The city’s police department is currently subject to federal monitoring as part of court-ordered reforms due to discriminatory and unconstitutional policing. The verdict follows three weeks of explosive testimony in a federal courtroom. Additional officers named in the testimony have either been suspended or announced their retirement.

Read More